News

Support Strong for Repeal of US Mandatory COOL

10 December 2012

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CANADA - The trade chair with the Canadian Pork Council says there is strong support on both sides of the Canada-US border for repealing US Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling, writes Bruce Cochrane.

Mandatory US Country of Origin Labelling requires a range of products, including specific cuts of pork and beef, to be labelled according to their country of origin.

In July the World Trade Organization Appellate Body upheld a November 2011 Dispute Settlement Panel ruling that US Mandatory Country of Origin Labelling discriminates against imported livestock and is inconsistent with US trade obligations.

This week a WTO arbitrator decided the United States must bring its labelling measure into compliance by 23 May 2013 or face the prospects of retaliatory tariffs.

Canadian Pork Council trade chair Jurgen Preugschas says the sooner the US comes into compliance the better but, failing that, producers will be pushing the federal government to immediate take retaliatory action.

Jurgen Preugschas-Canadian Pork Council

We would prefer not to take retaliatory action.

We would like the US to come into compliance.

We want trade to come back into the normal form that it was in our integrated market.

We have many allies in the United States that agree with that as well.

The packing houses, the distributors and many of the associations, pork and beef associations agree that COOL was harmful to both sides of the border and the sooner that we get rid of it the better it is.

Mr Preugschas says this latest ruling sets a hard date by which the Americans must come into compliance with their obligations.

He says, if the US fails to come into compliance, Canadian producers will be pressing the Canadian government to immediately take action by implementing compensatory tariffs.